


without a doubt

by sadrobotboy (bruisesandcontusions)



Category: Bandom
Genre: F/M, M/M, alex is oblivious, jack just wants hello magazine to cover their wedding, rian gets mad over colour schemes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-30
Updated: 2014-10-30
Packaged: 2018-02-23 06:18:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2537324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bruisesandcontusions/pseuds/sadrobotboy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>a promise is a promise</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	without a doubt

**Author's Note:**

> my t.a. waiting for her bf to propose + me waiting for the rian/cassadee wedding + a need for ridiculous pining = this cheesefest of a fic. shout out to rosie for being the best beta and constantly dealing w my shit.

The crossover into Canada goes without a hitch, the bored looking security guard waving their buses through without even checking them. Jack grins and plasters himself up against Alex, clinging on a little bit when the bus starts moving again. 

“Over the border! We’re legal now baby!” 

Alex doesn’t look up from where he’s watching TV and says, “We were legal anyway. There’s no laws against sodomy in Vermont.” 

Jack frowns. “I meant to get married, douchebag.” 

Alex finally turns to look at him and raises an eyebrow suggestively. “Yeah, but doesn’t sodomy sound more fun?” Jack grins as he lets Alex pin him down on the couch, and doesn’t mention that breaking two laws is always better than one. 

::

Rian looks like he hasn’t slept in about three days when he gets off the phone, and Jack smiles cautiously at him. The tour has been a tough one, and he knows Rian misses home more than ever now that he has someone waiting for him. 

“Hey man, how’s planning a wedding going?” 

Rian rolls his eyes, and the frown lines in his forehead seem to deepen. “Don’t even ask. Cassie’s driving me crazy with all the pointless shit we have to organise.” Jack winces sympathetically, but Rian is on a roll now, expounding on the ridiculousness of pre-marital life. “I mean, we’ve started fighting about things we don’t even care about! Yesterday we had an argument because the bridesmaids’ shoes are green and my tie is meant to be blue – like, when the fuck did this become my life?” 

“Blue _is_ your colour,” Zack chips in unhelpfully, and Rian glares at him. 

“It’s fun though, right?” Jack asks quickly to avoid any potential colour-coordination themed rage. “I mean, you’re gonna be married! Isn’t that awesome?” He looks pointedly at Alex as he says it, but he’s buried in his phone and doesn’t appear to be listening. Jack sighs. 

Rian frowns and shrugs, looking slightly defeated. “Right now, I wish we’d just eloped to Vegas if it means I’d never have to hear the word bouquet again.” 

Alex looks up at that, nodding and stretching back on the couch. “Damn right. Weddings are way too much hassle anyway. Just hire an Elvis impersonator and be done with it!” Zack laughs and even Rian manages to crack a smile, though he still looks on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Jack pouts, and wonders whether blue is his colour or not. 

::

Alex’s words are still playing on Jack’s mind as he slides into the booth next to Rian, pressing up against him and resting his head on Rian’s shoulder. They’re in some shitty diner in the middle of buttfuck, Tennessee, and Jack glances over to make sure Alex is still ordering at the counter before speaking up. 

“So...” he begins, wondering how exactly to word what he’s been thinking about, oh, only since the end of the last tour. Rian nods and hums to show he’s listening. “So, when you proposed to Cass, like, how did you do that?” Wow. He is so smooth. He kind of wants to hit himself in the face right now. 

Rian gives him a Look. Jack does his best to attempt wide-eyed innocence. Rian sighs. “If you ask Alex to marry you, I had better be the best man after all the shit you guys have put me through.” 

Jack splutters, shaking his head and feeling his face heat up at having been totally caught out. “What the hell, that’s not – I mean, not that I wouldn’t, but – that’s not what I –”

Rian’s still raising his eyebrows at him incredulously when Alex’s voice cuts over his babbling. 

“So apparently we managed to end up at the only diner in the US that’s out of fries?” He looks down at Jack, who has turned bright red and whose mouth is still opening and closing slightly, and frowns. “What’s going on?” 

“Nothing,” Rian smirks, and Jack is so going to murder him in his bunk tonight. Alex still looks confused as he sits down across from them in the booth, looking between the two of them like he’s trying to work out what he’s missing here. Jack’s face is burning and he chews on his lip hard, not wanting to give anything away. Stupid Rian and his big fucking mouth. 

Alex reaches for Jack’s hand over the table, running his thumb over Jack’s knuckles. “You okay?” 

Jack nods, swiftly kicking Rian under the table when he starts giggling, and tries not to think about matching rings. 

::

The clock says it’s only 6:40 but Jack can’t get back to sleep so he watches Alex instead, curled up on the bed next to him, breathing soft and consistent. Jack _knows_ how lucky he is to have Alex in his life at all, but it hits him all of a sudden, like a punch to the chest, just how much he loves Alex, how much he loves this. It’s slightly overwhelming, the feeling of adoration spilling over inside him, but Jack just lets the warm affection spread through his body, ghosting his fingers over Alex’s temple and thinking vaguely about honeymoons. 

Alex’s breath stutters and his eyes blink open slowly, adjusting to the early morning light. Jack smiles at him, and his mouth twitches up in return, pillow case creases visible on his cheek. 

“Stop watching me sleep, you creep,” he says, eyes scrunching up as he pokes Jack’s face and his voice early-morning husky, and Jack wants to say _marry me_. He doesn’t, though. He pokes his tongue out and says, “Only for you, baby,” says, “Do you want coffee?” says, “Hey, you should totally get in the shower with me,” and Alex laughs and it’s the most beautiful sound Jack’s ever heard. 

Alex stretches and yawns as he sits up, cotton t shirt riding up to show skin that Jack wants to bite. He gnaws playfully at Alex’s shoulder instead, wrapping his arms around his waist from behind and leaning in to press his nose into Alex’s hair. Alex smells like sex and strawberries and also like home. “I love you.” 

“Mmm,” Alex hums, running his hand along Jack’s thigh and up his side. “Love you too.” Jack sighs out a breath, and it’s perfect and he knows he could do it. He could. He could just ask Alex to marry him right now on their bed with the sun streaming through the hotel room curtains and he’s 95% sure Alex would say yes. 

But he doesn’t even have a ring to offer, and they have bus call in fifteen minutes, and besides there’s still that five percent niggling in the back of his brain that maybe, maybe... 

“Right,” Alex yawns, and Jack tenses up before he remembers that Alex can’t actually read his mind. “Time for that shower.” He grins at Jack, quick and dirty, and pulls him up off the bed, and Jack follows, hoping the hot spray will wash away the doubt bubbling under his skin. 

::

“Is it true you’re gonna propose to Alex?” 

Jack’s phone clatters to the floor as he jumps and exclaims, “Fucking hell!” Zack doesn’t laugh, just looks at him with serious eyes, and, honestly, Jack will never understand how such a big guy can still sneak up on him like that. 

“Well, are you?” Zack asks, and Jack sighs, shrugging defensively. 

“No!” Zack just looks at him. Jack kind of wishes his bandmates couldn’t read him so well. “I mean, I don’t know. Maybe?” Zack doesn’t say anything, and Jack knows it’s just a trick to get him to keep talking but he totally falls for it anyway. Plus, maybe he does need to get all of this out of his system a bit. “Like, I just really like him, y’know? And I don’t want to lose him, ever. But.” 

“But?” 

Jack pouts and finally spits it out. “Shouldn’t he be the one proposing to me? He’s older, he’s, y’know, and maybe he just doesn’t. Like. Want that.” 

When Jack looks up, Zack is staring at him like he’s an idiot. “You’re an idiot,” he says, and Jack just nods because he probably deserves that. “Alex has been head over heels for you since forever; he’d probably chop his own arm off if you asked, let alone marry you. Hell, probably the only reason he hasn’t proposed himself yet is because he’s scared _you’d_ say no!” 

Jack wants to make it known that Alex is an idiot if he thinks Jack would ever say no to that, but instead he says, “Hey, marrying me is nowhere near on the same level as body mutilation, asshole!” 

Zack rolls his eyes, clearly exasperated at the idiocy of both his bandmates, but he wraps an arm around Jack’s shoulder affectionately and gives him a knowing look. “Just don’t make yourself miserable because you’re too busy trying to make him happy. No one wants to deal with angsty girlfriend Barakat on tour.” 

“Yeah, I know,” Jack mumbles, and buries his face in Zack’s shoulder while his thoughts buzz loud and then louder in his head. 

::

Jack, it has to be said, is not so great at subtlety. There is a line between discreet and painfully obvious that he crossed long ago, and now it’s got to the point where he’s practically throwing wedding magazines at Alex on a daily basis. He’s pretty sure the crew have some sort of running bet as to how long it will be before he gets down on one knee onstage, which is, huh, tempting, but no. Jack has risked public humiliation many times in front of an audience, but the possibility of being rejected in front of thousands of fans does not exactly fill him with joy. 

Unfortunately for him, Alex is about as good at picking up on his hints as Jack is at providing them. Jack doesn’t know if he’s being deliberately obtuse or if he’s genuinely this impervious to his attempts to pop the question, but either way he ends the tour tired and exasperated and with _no ring_. He might as well be Mormon. 

“I might as well be Mormon,” Jack says to no one in particular, after Alex just ignored the wedding cake brochures on the table and Jack’s incredibly suggestive comments about commitment. 

Zack pats his knee sympathetically. “I’m sure Alex will still love you, even if it does make you a filthy sinner.” 

Jack sighs. “But will he marry me though?” 

::

Eventually Jack decides that not-so-subtle hints simply aren’t going to do the trick, and he might as well just take the plunge and get it over with. Really, there is only so much waiting a guy can take, and Alex has never been good at picking up on things that aren’t spelled out in size sixty font saying _please marry me_. 

He takes his sister ring shopping with him, mostly for her eye for jewellery but also partly because he’s still not sure he knows exactly what the fuck he’s doing. She teases him over the phone about making an honest man out of Alex, but when Jack finally chooses a set of white gold rings with delicate engravings around the bands he notices her subtly wiping her eyes. 

“They’re gorgeous, Jacky,” she tells him, and they are, they’re beautiful, and Jack wants to cry a little himself. 

“Let’s just hope he says yes!” he jokes, and May shakes her head incredulously. 

“Like he could say no to that ring! That’s some serious bling you’re buying your boy, he’s gotta at least have time to sell it on eBay before he jilts you at the altar!” 

Jack laughs, but he can’t ignore the nervous churning in his stomach when he looks down at the shining rings lying side by side in their boxes. 

::

Rian and Cassadee’s wedding is so beautiful that Jack almost wants to cry, even though he would never admit that to anyone on pain of death. Rian cries, but they all expected him to anyway so that’s no big deal. Jack thinks he sees Zack wipe away a tear, which he totally plans on teasing him about mercilessly later, but right now he’s more concerned about making Alex see that getting married is totally an awesome idea. 

It’s just, he’s seen the way Rian and Cassadee look at each other, like they have now and forever and all the days in between, and Jack _wants_ that, like an ache in his bones. He wants to wake up every morning knowing Alex is there beside him, and go to sleep certain that he’s never going to leave. He wants to love Alex unconditionally and forever, and he wants the whole world to know it. 

Alex leans his head on Jack’s shoulder during the service, and Jack sighs happily and watches his best friends enjoy the happiest day of their lives. If he has to dab at his eyes when Rian says “I do”, well, no one has to know about it. Alex just kisses Jack’s knuckles where their fingers are linked together against Jack’s chest, and Jack thinks _forever_. 

Later, there are speeches and more tears and a valiant effort to get drunk on the horrifically expensive champagne at the reception. Jack sees Cassadee wink when she throws him the bouquet, and, yeah, okay, so they’d totally planned that but it’s still a nice gesture. He turns to Alex with a shit-eating grin and raises an eyebrow, ignoring the catcalls from around them. “How about it, stud?” 

Alex bursts out laughing, which wasn’t exactly the reaction Jack was hoping for but whatever. “Sure thing,” he shrugs, wrapping his arms around Jack’s waist, and Jack’s heart is suddenly too big for his chest. “You, me, a Vegas chapel – what could possibly go wrong?” 

Jack knows Alex is mostly joking, but he can see it anyway, matching suits and heartfelt vows and fuck, fuck, surely this is it, this is the moment where he risks it all... 

An avalanche of confetti slides its way down Jack’s spine, cold and tickly and “mother _fucker_ ” Jack exclaims, ignoring the other guests’ glares. Alex is laughing in his face, stupid braying noises as he pulls his hand out from under Jack’s collar, and Jack wants to _die_. His boyfriend is an idiot and Jack is never going to get married and it’s all thanks to a handful of paper confetti. He is beginning to understand Rian’s wedding-related murderous rage. 

“Come on, let’s dance,” Alex says, clearly not realising the _severe emotional trauma_ he is causing Jack right now, and pulls Jack over to the dancefloor. Jack follows him anyway, and he lets Alex pull him close so that they can slow dance to Britney Spears (Jack’s fairly sure that Vic picked the playlist) and rests his chin on Alex’s shoulder, but this is so not over. 

“This is so not over,” Jack mumbles, glaring at Alex’s stupid perfect face that he is never going to get to kiss in front of the altar. 

“What was that?” Alex asks, but Jack shakes his head, sighing only slightly mournfully. 

“Nothing.” He imagines their first dance, soft music and carefully practised footwork, Alex’s hands heavy on his waist. “I love you.” 

“Yeah,” Alex says, and his eyes go all crinkly at the corners and Jack considers forgiving him. “I know.” 

Over Alex’s shoulder, Jack watches Rian and Cassadee dancing together and decides happy endings are something worth fighting for. 

::

_Jack leans hard against Alex’s shoulder, mumbling sloppy sentences into his ear – something about dragons and Star Wars and girls being the root of all evil – and Alex just laughs and pets his hair and says, “there, there, man, you’ll be okay.” He knows 16 year old broken hearts are always easy enough to mend, even if copious amounts of alcohol do speed up the process. Jack mutters something incoherent in reply, and Alex just laughs and tries not to press his lips to Jack’s forehead._

_They’re waiting for a taxi when Jack looks up at Alex, wide eyed and honest, and says, “You’ll marry me, right, Lex? If no girl ever likes me again, you promise you’ll marry me?”_

_Alex chuckles a little uncertainly, but nods nonetheless. “Course I will. We’ll have two kids and a dog and a picket fence and everything.”_

_Jack’s smile is wide and bright and Alex thinks he’s so fucking pretty. “Good,” he says, leaning further into Alex’s chest and resting his head on his shoulder. “You promise?”_

_“Promise,” Alex whispers, and lets his hands slip around Jack’s waist to hold him up until the cab arrives._

::

Jack wakes up early again, still not used to being off the road with no 10 am bus calls or Zack snoring in the bunk above him. Alex looks too peaceful to wake up, and Jack decides to make them breakfast instead, padding barefoot into their kitchen and looking around for pancake mix. Once the bacon is sizzling in the grill, Jack glances around surreptitiously before opening up the cutlery drawer (which is filled less with eating utensils and more with acquired bottle openers and is the one place in the house Jack knows it’s safe to hide anything). 

The ring boxes still there of course, red velvet and white gold and Jack runs his fingers over Alex’s ring almost reverentially. It’s become a ridiculous habit of his, checking and rechecking and never fucking _doing_ anything about it. Jack knows he’s being a pussy. He knows that. But –

“Hey, Jack, what are you –” Jack whirls around, the box still clasped tight in his hands, heart pounding in shock. 

He can see the exact moment that Alex spots the ring, his eyebrows rising up his forehead as his mouth falls open and Jack’s freaking the fuck out because, shit, no, it wasn’t supposed to happen like this, it wasn’t – but Alex’s eyes are wide and his hand is frozen halfway to his mouth and Jack can’t back out now, he just can’t. Slowly, like Alex is a wild animal he’s trying desperately hard not to scare away, he drops to one knee. Alex lets out a small noise somewhat akin to a squeak as Jack holds out the open ring box with shaky hands. 

“Is this... are you proposing to me?” Jack rolls his eyes because really, had it not been obvious enough already. 

“Yes,” he grits out, feeling awkward and embarrassed all of a sudden. “Alexander William Gaskarth, I want to know if you will marry me, and if you say no I swear to God I will end you.” Alex laughs, loud and kind of breathless, and Jack thinks _please please please_. 

Alex’s voice is hoarse, like he’s forgotten how to speak, but his grin stretches a mile wide across his face. “Jack, I – I can’t believe you... of course I will, you fucker!” His smile is infectious, and Jack catches himself beaming like an idiot in return. Alex pulls him to his feet and this is it, this is their kitchen and Jack just proposed in his pyjamas and Alex, _fuck_ , Alex said _yes_. 

“You mean it?” Jack asks, because he has to know, he has to be sure –

“Jack, man, like I was ever going to say no to you!” Alex’s eyes are damp, and Jack knows he’s on the brink of crying too. He’s starting to think that tears are an inevitable side effect of weddings, along with the stress and terrible dancing. “Besides,” Alex continues, voice teasing. “I did promise, didn’t I?” 

Jack’s surprised that Alex remembers, is embarrassed at himself for having held on to something so ridiculous and insignificant for all these years, but he smiles anyway and presses a smug kiss to Alex’s jaw. “Yeah, you did.”


End file.
